2012 Mengku "Mu Shu Cha" Certified Organic Raw Puerh Tea

Bought this a couple of months ago from Yunnan Sourcing. Just getting around to trying it. It is a nice tea overall. There was a mixture of bitter and sweet to this tea. The bitterness that was there was not the sort I call an abiding bitterness, it was more subdued. Early on I got definite fruity notes, perhaps apricots, perhaps stonefruits, perhaps something else. This fruity taste only lasted a few steeps but it was still overall very smooth and sweet. The bitterness was noticeable for only a few steeps but then it was there on the back burner. It didn’t go away completely but was not noticeable really. I didn’t get much qi off of this tea. It would have been nice but I’m really not feeling anything. Still it was a very good tea.

I steeped this twelve times in a 120ml gaiwan with 7g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The tea was not watery in the twelfth steep. I could have kept going if I wanted to. Would have gotten a few more steeps out of the leaves.